MOTORSPORTS HALL OF FAMES / MUSEUMS 2005 NEWS ARCHIVE

Motorsports HOF to move: The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America is planning to leave its Novi, MI home and the board of directors is expected to announce the new location on Dec. 15. The choice appears to be between Jackson and a spot in the Detroit area. The hall, which features race cars, motorcycles, antiques and memorabilia, plans to leave its 11-year location in the Novi Expo Center. Hall president Ron Watson said several short-term and permanent locations are still in the running. Jackson officials say they hope to boost the hall's fortunes with ties to Michigan International Speedway in nearby Brooklyn.(Detroit News)(11-25-2005)

Tim Flock to be inducted into Alabama Sports HOF: NASCAR Legend, the late Tim Flock, will be inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame ballots for the Class of 2006. The newly elected eight inductees now bring the total of all inductees since 1969 to 257. The 2006 induction banquet will take place in the Birmingham Ballroom, at the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel, Sunday, May 21, 2006.(ashof.org), more info about Tim Flock at timflock.com(10-11-2005)

NC Auto Racing HOF to Honor Pearson and Yates: David Pearson and Robert Yates, two of racing's elite competitors, will be honored by the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame at its annual induction ceremonies on Oct. 12 at Mooresville's Charles Mack Citizens Center. Pearson, a three-time NASCAR champion and one of stock car racing's most celebrated drivers, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Yates, a championship team owner and engine builder, will receive the coveted Snap-On Golden Wrench Award for his outstanding contributions to the sport. "Both of these men brought something different to the sport," said Don Miller, co-founder and chairman of the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame. "David was an extremely talented driver and Robert was an equally talented engine builder before becoming a team owner. Both men set a competitive standard for the sport that continues to be the yardstick by which success is measured today."Pearson achieved everything possible in his NASCAR racing career that began in 1960 and lasted through 1986. His career statistics are nothing short of amazing. With 105 victories and 111 poles, he ranks second in both categories to Richard Petty on the all-time race winners' list and all-time pole winners' list. In starts, his 574 ranks him ninth on that all-time list. He also was crowned the 1966, 1968 and 1969 NASCAR Grand National Champion [now NEXTEL Cup].Yates has been one of NASCAR's premier engine builders for more than 30 years. He built the engines that carried Bobby Allison to his 1983 NASCAR championship and Petty to his 200th victory at Daytona in July 1984. After years of hard work under the hood, he took his career to the next level by purchasing a race team in the late 1980s. His two race teams have since posted more that 50 victories in addition to the 1999 championship in NASCAR'S premier division with driver Dale Jarrett.
The 2005 induction ceremonies will be presented by Alltel in association with Snap-On Tools. Alltel provides communications to 13
million customers in more than 26 states and has information service clients in 54 countries and territories.
Located in Mooresville, the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame celebrates the rich heritage of motorsports and its cultural
contributions to society. It opened its doors in 1994 and now welcomes more than 300,000 visitors annually. More than 38,000 fans
visited the Hall of Fame during Charlotte race weeks in May 2005.
A non-profit museum, the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame is dedicated to all forms of motorsports - from drag racing to stock
cars. It houses more than 35 cars as well as numerous displays and showcases. Past inductees into the museum's Hall of Fame include Tim Flock, Bobby Allison, Richard Petty, Bill France Sr., Junior Johnson, Ned Jarrett, Cale Yarborough, Ralph Moody Jr. and Dale Earnhardt. For more information about the museum and the ninth annual induction ceremony, log on to www.ncarhof.com.(8-30-2005)

Benny to be inducted into Motorsports Hall of Fame: NASCAR champion Benny Parsons and Indianapolis 500 winner Tom Sneva, two of the most popular drivers in American motor sports, will be among a group of nine racing personalities inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on Thursday [August 18th] in Detroit. Better known as a TV [NBC/TNT] racing analyst by today's viewers, Parsons won the 1973 Winston Cup championship in one of stock car racing's most dramatic finishes. He also won the 1975 Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600 and the final race at Ontario Motor Speedway, the 1980 L.A. Times 500. Other inductees: Hurley Haywood; Tommy Ivo; Danny Foster; Jay Springsteen; NASCAR's John Holman and Ralph Moody; Indy 500 winner Troy Ruttman. The nine will join 126 already enshrined in the Motorsports Hall of Fame in Novi, Mich.(Los Angeles Times)(8-17-2005)

Earnhardt leads INHOF candidates vote: With Dale Earnhardt leading the way, NASCAR candidates dominated first round voting for the Class of 2006 at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. This was a switch from the previous two years when stockcar legends managed to grab only three of the ten spots available. Following Earnhardt, who had one of the highest vote totals ever, NASCAR-related candidates took the first six spots, eight of the top ten places, and 12 of the 22 total finalists. There were 22 candidates instead of 20 because of a three-way tie for 20th. Earnhardt's NASCAR peers include, in alphabetical order, Red Byron, Jerry Cook, Harry Gant, Ray Hendrick, Jack Ingram, Cotton Owens, Les Richter, Jack Roush, Ralph Seagraves, Humpy Wheeler and Rex White. The non-NASCAR contingent is equally talented, and is likely to grab some spots in the final group of five inductees as well. Other finalists include Indy Car standouts J. C. Agajanian and Pete DePaolo, Formula 1 star Rene Dreyfus, sports car drivers Gene Felton, Janet Guthrie and Brian Redman, sprint car legends Tommy Hinnershitz and Jan Opperman, drag racing's Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins and motorcycle champion Wayne Rainey. Ballots for the final round of voting will be mailed to the voting panel next week. The announcement of the Class of 2005 will be made on Wednesday, Nov. 2nd.
The date of the 2006 Induction Ceremony will be Thursday night, April 27th. It will be in the Speed Channel Dome at the Hall of Fame, and will be a black tie affair with a sit-down dinner and receptions both before and after. Tickets are $125 each, or $1,000 for a table of eight. For more information, please call 256/362-5002.(IMHOF PR)(7-23-2005)

Infineon Raceway Unveils Wall of Fame: Legendary drivers Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin will retire from the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series after the 2005 season, but their legacies will live forever at Infineon Raceway. Wallace and Martin, who have combined for three victories and three pole positions at Infineon Raceway over their careers, were honored during a ceremony on Friday in the Winner's Circle as the raceway announced the construction of a Wall of Fame. Wallace and Martin were honored as the Wall of Fame's first inductees - the ceremony took place during the Dodge/Save Mart 350 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series weekend. The Sonoma Valley facility has featured the best in motor sports over the last 37 years, and raceway officials decided to establish a Wall of
Fame, which will honor those who have excelled not only in their form of motor racing, but more importantly, at Infineon Raceway.
Both drivers were presented with granite plaques by Steve Page, president and general manager of Infineon Raceway. The plaques were
etched with each driver's likeness, as well as their form of motor racing, and the date of induction. The plaques will be on display in the
Wall of Fame, which is being constructed behind the main grandstand and will be open to the public.
"The Infineon Raceway Wall of Fame provides a wonderful means to celebrate the rich motor racing history of this facility," Page said. "
Both Rusty and Mark have performed so well on this track and have done so much to build this sport in Northern California. I can think of no two names we'd rather feature as our first inductees."
Both Wallace and Martin have been road-course specialists at Infineon Raceway over the years. Wallace won the event in 1990 and 1996 and has two poles (1989, 2000). He has also led the most races (eight) and is fourth at the raceway in all-time earnings ($882,205). Moreover, Wallace placed outside the top seven just twice from 1989-1996. "I've always enjoyed coming to Sonoma and we've always run well here, so this is a big honor for me to be one of the first drivers to be inducted into the Wall of Fame," Wallace said. "The bottom line is that it has always been one of the most fun races of the year."
Martin, meanwhile, won the event in 1997, and has 13 top-10 efforts in 16 starts at Infineon Raceway. He has placed outside the top 10 just once since 1994, and is second in all-time earnings ($955,737). "This is a great honor for me," Martin said. "We've had some great races here and I will miss the road course, but it's an honor to know that I will always be a part of the history in Sonoma."
The Wall of Fame will include competitors from all forms of motor racing at Infineon Raceway, including NASCAR, NHRA POWERade Drag Racing, American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), open-wheel cars, sports cars, and more. It will also include those who have made significant contributions to the raceway over the years. A raceway committee will oversee the selection process on an annual basis.(Infineon Raceway)(6-25-2005)

Living Legends of Auto Racing Museum relocates, to reopen: Living Legends of Auto Racing Museum in Daytona Beach, FL, will reopen on Saturday. The museum has relocated to Sunshine Park Mall in South Daytona. Several auto racing "legends" are expected to sign autographs and greet fans during Saturday's grand opening, including Marvin Panch, Jack Anderson, Mac McDonald, Pal Parker, Hilly Rife and Harold Cardwell. The museum, now in its fourth year of operation, is expanding its hours. The facility will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. six days a week, Monday through Saturday. There is no admission fee, but donations are welcome. The museum is the brainchild of the Living Legends of Auto Racing Board, founded 12 years ago by local racing aficionados. The museum highlights the auto-racing scene from 1903 -- the era of Malcolm Campbell and his contemporaries -- till the present. It also showcases contributions of so many connected with racing, from drivers and car owners to sponsors, techs, crews, design engineers and even the media who have helped turn the once dirt-track hobby to a billionaire industry. The museum is unique in a number of ways. First, it has no paid staff, but is run entirely by a dedicated corps of volunteers. The board organizes fund-raising events throughout the year, both for its own benefit as well as to share proceeds with communtiy agencies. Supporters can pay $15 for a one-year membership. Those older than 65 are offered a lifetime membership fee of $100. Museum manager John Peoples, a retired research photographer with Princeton University and photo-journalist, puts current annual museum membership at approximately 600, with about 100 lifetime members, scattered all around the globe. The museum publishes a quarterly newsletter, "The Cannonball," with racing trivia, biographbical sketches, racing lore and the like, as well as an annual Yearbook and Press Guide. At the same time, merchandise, souvenirs and related items sold at the museum help add to the coffers. For more information, call (386) 257-2828 or go to the Web site: www.livinglegendsofautoracing.com.(Daytona Beach News Journal)(5-25-2005)

Winston Cup Museum opens in Winston-Salem, N.C. JKS Motorsports is proud to announce The Winston Cup Museum, a tribute to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company's 33-year NASCAR sponsorship. The museum is designed to preserve NASCAR history and Winston-Salem's ties to the largest spectator sport in the country. The museum opens to the public Wednesday, May 11th at 10:00am/et. A striking wall mural chronicling 33 years of Winston Cup racing covers three walls of the inside of the building, and a
timeline of the sponsorship is near the entrance to the museum. Among the permanent displays are tributes to such RJR-sponsored programs as The Winston Million, the Winston No Bull 5 and The Winston. The museum houses authentic race cars from different eras of the 33-year NASCAR Winston Cup Series. In addition to the different race cars, the museum houses trophies, driver uniforms, helmets, winner's checks, autographed pictures and original racing posters. General Motors, Ford and Dodge all furnished conceptual cars and special paint schemes. Some of the displays are permanent, but other portions of the museum will be on a rotation to
include all of the cars.
The Winston Cup Museum is located at 1355 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive in Winston-Salem, N.C. Normal business hours are 10
a.m. until 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children under 12. Twenty percent of the proceeds
from ticket sales will go to three charities: the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, N.C., Brenner Children's Hospital and the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, both in Winston-Salem. The Winston Cup Museum is presented by JKS Motorsports and is not affiliated with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Reynolds American, Inc. of which R.J. Reynolds is a subsidiary or NASCAR. For additional information, please visit www.winstoncupmuseum.com)(5-11-2005)

DW Inducted into Hall of Fame: Darrell Waltrip was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame last night — the highest honor for any race driver — and he credited his success to ''all the people around me. Other people are responsible for what I've been able to accomplish,'' he said, ''starting with my parents. My mom and dad were hard-working people. We had a lot of hard times, but we didn't cry much. We laughed a lot.'' Waltrip, 58, said his wife Stevie, ''the first person who believed in me,'' was ''responsible for a lot of my success.'' Team owner Junior Johnson was ''in the right place at the right time'' to help guide him to three points titles. ''Our sport's not about cars,'' Waltrip said. ''It's about people, and I've been blessed to be surrounded by great people all of my life.'' Waltrip, who moved to Franklin from Owensboro, Ky., in the late 1960s to pursue his racing career, won 84 races, tied with Bobby Allison for third all-time. He retired from full-time driving after the 2000 season and became a racing commentator for Fox Sports. Waltrip will be calling this weekend's races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Waltrip was introduced last night by his younger brother Michael, who said, ''He's a wonderful person, a great role model on and off the track. He broke the mold on what a race driver was supposed to be about.'' Last night's other inductees were legendary Formula One driver Nigel Mansell; Bob Glidden, the National Hot Road Association's winningest driver and 10-time champion; Joe Amato, the NHRA's all-time Top Fuel winner; and Chris Hanauer, considered the all-time greatest hydroplane racer.(Tennessean)(4-29-2005)

Waltrip to be inducted into Hall of Fame - Thursday - UPDATE: Three-time NASCAR champion Darrell Waltrip heads the latest class of inductees into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Waltrip is joined by longtime drag racing stars Joe Amato and Bob Glidden, powerboat champion Chip Hanauer and Formula One and CART champion Nigel Mansell. Waltrip won Winston Cup titles in 1981, 1982 and 1985, driving for Junior Johnson. He also had 84 wins — tied for third all-time with former inductee Bobby Allison — 54 poles, and was named Driver of the Year three times. Amato had 54 NHRA Top Fuel wins and five division championships, both records. He also finished in the top 10 in points in each of his 19 seasons. Glidden captured 10 NHRA Pro Stock titles and another one in the IHRA. When he retired, Glidden was the NHRA's winningest driver in any class with 85 career victories. Hanauer won seven Unlimited Hydroplane national and world titles and 61 national events, including a record 11 Gold Cup races. The five-member class will be inducted on April 28, 2005.(AP)(11-11-2004)UPDATE: On Thursday night at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, DW plans to talk about people and memories, including 33 years ago when he walked into Talladega to run this week's race as a rookie. DW started 25th and finished 38th in his very first Cup race on May 7, 1972. It's ironic that 33 years later, that DW is getting inducted into the hall of fame at the track where he started my career.(see DW's article at Allwaltrip.com)(4-27-2005)

Winston Cup Museum to hold ceremony: The Winston Cup Museum will house authentic Winston Cup race cars from different eras of the sponsorship, trophies, uniforms, helmets, winner's checks, autographed pictures, wall murals and framed/signed original racing posters. The museum will be on a constant rotation of General Motors, Ford and Dodge conceptual cars and special paint schemes. The museaum will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony on May 10th, 2005. The museum will open to the public on May 11 at 12:00noon/et. It's located at 1355 Martin Luther King Drive, Winston-Salem, NC, in the old Bob Neill Pontiac dealership that is currently being renovated. Tickets will be $5 for adults and $3 for children 5-12. Children under 5 will be admitted free.(MSNBC)(4-26-2005)

Bruton to be honored Saturday: Greater Charlotte Sports Hall of Fame will be honored at a dinner celebration and tribute on the evening of April 16, 2005, at the Panthers Den at Bank of America Stadium. Proceeds from the event will benefit Charlotte/Mecklenburg Senior Centers, Inc.
The four 2005 inductees are:
- Bobby Jones, collegiate and professional basketball player - Bruton Smith, motorsports pioneer
- David Thompson, collegiate and professional basketball player
- Hoyt Wilhelm, professional baseball player (posthumous award)
John M. Belk, former Charlotte Mayor and recently retired chief executive of the Belk department store organization, is honorary chairman of the event. The gala event (formal business attire) will feature a cocktail reception with live music beginning at 7 p.m., followed by dinner at 8 p.m. The awards presentation ceremony will include video tributes to the inductees and introductions by friends and colleagues. A silent auction of sports memorabilia and other items will be held. Tickets to the charitable event are $150 each. For information or reservations, call 704-369-0383 or visit the
charlottehalloffame.com website. The inaugural inductees of the Greater Charlotte Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 were: Jim Beatty, the late Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Mullins and Floyd "Chunk" Simmons. Members of the 2005 Greater Charlotte Sports Hall of Fame's selection committee that chose the 2005 honorees include Jim Babb, Jim Beatty, Jeff Beaver, John M. Belk, Dell Curry, Ron Green, Sr., Bill Hensley, Max Muhleman, Judy Rose, Dick Thigpen, and H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler. The Greater Charlotte Sports Hall of Fame was established in the fall of 2003 as an entity to recognize and honor outstanding sports figures from the Charlotte region and to create greater public awareness of the area's rich sports history and heritage.(carolinanewswire.com)(4-15-2005)

Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame Banquet: will be held tonight at the Texas Grand Ballroom in The Speedway Club at Texas Motor Speedway. Who will be honored:
HOF Inductees: Terry Labonte, Lee Shepherd (posthumously)
Texas Motor Speedway Racer of the Year: Tony Kanaan
Bruton Smith Legends Award: Lloyd Tuby
Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame Sportsmanship Award: Kyle & Pattie Petty
Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame Vision Award: Dr. Dean Sicking
* Terry Labonte won at Texas Motor Speedway in 1999 and is a two-time Nextel Cup Series champion (1984, 1996). He is retiring
from the series after the 2006 season. Terry owns a Busch Series team for which his son, Justin, is the driver of the #44 Coast Guard car.
* Lee Shepherd won four consecutive National Hot Rod Association championships in 1981-84. He was on his way to a fifth
straight title when he died in a testing accident in Oklahoma on March 11, 1985.
* Tony Kanaan won the June Bombardier Learjet 500k in June 2004 in a photo finish with teammate Dario Franchitti. Kanaan
came back last October to clinch the IRL IndyCar Series Championship with his runner-up finish at Texas. Kanaan is testing and will not be in attendance at the banquet.
* Kyle & Pattie Petty have long been known for their charitable work and contributions throughout the NASCAR community.
* Dr. Dean Sicking has helped revolutionize safety in motorsports with his development of the SAFER barriers or "soft
walls". He is a graduate of Texas A&M University.
* Lloyd Ruby raced for more than 30 years in open-wheel cars, including 18 appearances in the Indy 500. The Wichita Falls,
Texas, native has been called "The Greatest Driver Never to Win the Indy 500".(TMS PR)(4-13-2005)

Construction Begins on Martin Museum: The construction equipment is out in Batesville, Arkansas this morning as crews begin building Nextel racing star Mark Martin's museum. The Batesville native opened a Ford dealership in his hometown last year with plans to build a museum next door to hold all of his racing memorabilia. Crowds lined the street in the town the day the dealership opened. Martin is also building a home nearby. The 46-year-old racer is retiring from full-time Nextel Cup competition after this season. He finished sixth this past weekend in the Daytona 500. Officials at the dealership said the museum will house many of Martin's trophies and several of his cherished race cars, uniforms and other mementos. But the trophies will only be from the second half of his career. Martin said that his early awards went into the trash on one of his many moves with his wife.(kait8.com/AP)(2-22-2005)

Benny to be honored: NASCAR champion Benny Parsons, Indianapolis 500 winner Tom Sneva and LeMans 24-Hour king Hurley Haywood will lead a group of nine racing greats into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America annual induction ceremony Aug. 18 at the State Theatre in Detroit. Parsons, Sneva and Haywood will be enshrined along with drag racer Tommy Ivo, motorcyclist Jay Springsteen, powerboat racer Danny Foster, car owners/builders John Holman and Ralph Moody and 1952 Indy 500 winner Troy Ruttman. The Class of 2005 will join the 126 racers already enshrined in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, located in Novi. Currently a NASCAR analyst on NBC, Parsons won the 1975 Daytona 500 and the 1980 Coca-Cola 600, as well as 19 other Winston Cup races. Tickets for the induction ceremony are available by calling 800-250-7223.(Detroit Free Press)(1-22-2005)

Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame Inductees: NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series veteran Terry Labonte and long time drag racing veteran Lee Shepherd will be the next inductees into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place on Thursday, April 14, at Texas Motor Speedway during the Samsung/RadioShack NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race weekend. Labonte and Shepherd join inaugural award winners Johnny Rutherford and A.J. Foyt as members in the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame. Labonte has won on short tracks, intermediate tracks, superspeedways and road courses in his 26-year NASCAR career. The 2006 season will be his final one as a driver. Along the way "Texas Terry" won the 1984 and 1996 Cup Championship after finding his love for racing at the age of seven in quarter-midgets in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Shepherd was one of the best drag racers ever to compete in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and International Hot Rod
Association (IHRA). The soft-spoken Texan won four straight NHRA championships in 1981-84 and was on his way to a fifth consecutive title the drag racing world was rocked by news that he had died in a testing accident in Oklahoma on March 11, 1985. Shepherd was the first driver to win both the NHRA and IHRA Pro Stock championships.
In addition to Labonte and Shepherd being inducted, the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame has announced other award winners.
Jim Hall of Midland, Texas, has been named the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame Bruton Smith Legends Award winner. Hall helped revolutionize open-wheel racing with his development of the famous Chaparral race car. Tony Kanaan won the 2004 Indy Racing League IndyCar Series Championship and earned the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame Racer of the Year Award. Texas Motor Speedway added soft walls in the past year and in so doing Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame has honored the designer of the SAFER barrier walls, Dr. Dean Sicking, with the Vision Award. It is no secret the amount of time and resources Kyle Petty gives to charity, and in particular the Victory Junction Gang. Kyle and his wife Pattie will be honored with the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame Sportsmanship Award. The 2005 Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame Awards Luncheon will be on Thursday, April 14, in The Grand Ballroom at Texas Motor Speedway. The Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame benefits the children of Happy Hill Farm in Granbury, Texas, in association with Speedway Children's Charities.(TMS PR)(1-14-2005)